Dental dam-holder.



No. 888,310 PATENTED MAY 19, 1908'.

O. A. GONOVER.

DENTAL DAM HOLDER.

-APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 3. 1901..

W/TNESSES INVENTOR A TTOHNE YS hwra.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLAUDE A. CONOVER, OF NEWBURGH, NEW YORK.

DENTAL DAM-HOLDER.

Application filed June 3, 1907.

of which the following is a full, clear, and

exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to so construct a rubber dam holder for dentists use, that the frame will be flexible and provided with removable rubber pads or facings adapted to lie next the face, thus rendering the holder cool and comfortable to the wearer, and enabling the dentist to remove and sterilize the pads each time the device is used.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved dam holder applied; Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section through one of the cheek pieces or frames of the holders and its accompanying pad, the section being taken ractically on the line 22 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 3 is an inner face view of one of the pads for the frame or cheek piece.

The device consists primarily of opposing frames or cheek pieces A, and accompanying pads or linings B for the inner faces of the said frames or cheek pieces. The frames or check pieces A are made of thin sheet brass, or other metal, so that they are more or less flexible, contributing thereby to the comfort of the wearer, and in order that the said frames or cheek pieces may be as light as possible they are of skeleton formation, as is illustrated, although they may be made without the opening shown therein. Preferably these frames or cheek pieces A are substantially triangular in shape, their wider ends facing to the front, and also preferably the lower corners of the said frames or cheek pieces extend forwardly beyond the upper corresponding corners, and at the upper and lower forward corners of each cheek piece or frame A, a clip 10 of any suitable construc- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 19, 1908.

Serial No. 377,066.

tion is applied, being secured to the frame or cheek pieces in any approved manner. These clips 10 are adapted to take hold of the end portions of a rubber dam 11 when the device is in use, as is illustrated in Fig. 1.

A pad B is located at the inner face of each frame or cheek piece A, and while these pads are preferably made of rubber, they may be made of any smooth and flexible material. The pads B, by preference, conform to the contour of the cheek pieces or frames to which they are attached, but are of larger size so as to extend beyond the edges of the cheek pieces or frames in order to prevent said edges from coming in contact with the face of the wearer of the device. The cheek pieces or frames A may be straight, but by preference they are given a slight curvature, their inner surfaces being more or less concaved. The pads B are removably attached to the cheek pieces or frames A, in order that the pads may be removed whenever it is thought desirable to sterilize them, since the pads come directly in contact with the face of the wearer of the device.

The connection between the pads B and I the cheek pieces or frames A may be made in many ways; by preference, however, the connection is effected as is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein se arable buttons C are employed, and usua ly the socket members 12 of these buttons are secured to the outer faces of the pads B, while the entering or post members 13 are secured to the inner faces of the cheek pieces or frames A. Thus it will be observed that a ready attachment may be effected between a pad and a frame, or the two said parts may be conveniently and expeditiously separated. The check pieces or frames and their accompanying pads are connected by an elastic tape 14, or its equivalent, the ends whereof are passed through suitable slots or openings 15 in the rear end portions of the frames or cheek pieces A, as is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, and one or both ends of the said tape 14 adjustably secured in any approved manner.

In operation the frames and their pads are located at the outer surface of each cheek of the face of the wearer, while the elastic connecting band or tape 14 is passed around the head of the wearer at the rear, as is shown in Fig. 1.

l 5 pads of a yielding material adapted for en- Having thus described my invention, I name to this specification in the presence of claim as new and desire to secure by Letters two subscribing witnesses. Patent A dental dam holder having detachable CLAUDE OONOVER' Witnesses:

GRAHAM WITSOHIEF,

gagement With the face of the wearer.

MARY F. WITSGHIEF.

In testimony whereof I have signed my 

